THROUGH THE WRINGER: Chris Patrick Carolan, Author of THE NIGHTSHADE CABAL

This week, the Blog Maven got to chat with The Nightshade Cabal author, Chris Patrick Carolan. With a wink and twist of his fine mustache, the Scotland-born Crime/ Fantasy writer opens up about his past and current literary inspirations, Cabal "Easter eggs", and The

1. Your debut novel, THE NIGHTSHADE CABAL, just released yesterday.

What was your literary journey like while writing it?

This book was almost written by accident. I love the idea of mixing magic with

technology, and writing a technomancer’s story was something I first attempted in a

second world fantasy novel. That draft ultimately went nowhere, but it led me to try

dropping a technomancer into a Victorian setting. I never intended to write

steampunk, but it made sense to me that combining magic with the industry of the

day would result in something that looks very much like steampunk. Embracing that

really opened up Isaac Barrow’s world to me, and the story grew from there.

2. Is there a scene in NIGHTSHADE that made you cry while writing it?

I’m not usually a very emotive person, so I can’t say anything in the book made

me cry, but there is one scene in Chapter 16 that I consider to be very much a turning

point for Barrow. It still chokes me up a bit when I reread it.

3. Would you consider your protagonist a good person? Be honest.

Isaac Barrow is definitely a reluctant hero. He’s self-absorbed, socially

awkward, and just a bit of a curmudgeon. He doesn’t seek out the scrapes he finds